Dr. Baburam Bhattarai Stays On-Part XVI

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

The political climate in Nepal is heading to a turbulence, as the Nepalese leaders have been attempting on grabbing the state power in the name of building an illusive consensus on every contentious issue not following the rule of law and the people’s mandate. Even the president has begun to say that he is trying to build a consensus among the political parties on the contentious issues forgetting his duty as the president on protecting the rule of law in other words the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Even the prime mister that has been trying to enforce the rule of law has begun to say that he would not mind to revive the Constituent Assembly (CA) if everybody agrees on it. Other leaders have been madly trying to use any means available to grab the power in the name of building a consensus among the political leaders and protecting democracy.

President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has recently told in the public that he had been engaged in building a consensus of the political parties on the contentious issues. He also had said that he was aware of doing his duty as the president to protect the constitution in other words to strictly follow the constitution. So, the president instead of wasting time on trying to build a consensus of the political leaders that could not do so during the last four years the president needed to clear off every hurdle on the way to holding an election to a new CA. Nothing so sacred than holding an election in the democratic system of governance. In addition, the election to a new CA is the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal, so nobody could avoid it following the democratic norms and values.

The irony is that the leaders of the so-called Democratic Party NC have gone to the president and directly told the president to stop the government from holding the election to a new CA, and fire the prime minister and appoint someone of them to a new prime minister. What sorts of democrats they could be that have shamelessly advised the president to do everything that goes against the Interim Constitution and the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal. In doing so, they take pride in protecting the democracy. However, what kind of democracy they are for protecting engaging in such undemocratic activities.

Some former NC lawmakers had been putting pressure on the president of the NC to revive the dissolved CA even for a short period. These guys either don’t know the democratic norms and values or ignore them for asking to revive the dissolve CA to achieve their selfish goal of grabbing power. President of NC Sushil Koirala claiming to be protecting democracy needed to tell those former NC lawmakers demanding the reinstatement of the dissolved CA that reinstating the dissolved CA they would not only go against the Interim Constitution but also against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal, consequently, reviving the dissolved CA means the contempt of court. Obviously, President of NC Sushil Koirala had no such guts to say such things rather went to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav to tell him either to revive the CA or to fire the prime minister immediately. What a president of a democratic party Mr. Sushil Koirala is. If Mr. Koirala is a truly democratic-mind person then he would have told the former NC lawmakers let us prepare for the election to a new CA, go to the people and win the mandate from the people to be in power. That is what Mr. Koirala is not doing for fear of further worsening position of his party after the election. So, Mr. Koirala sees only the presidential position the means to grab the power. How President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav as the head of state would use his office to serve the interest of President of NC Sushil Koirala: former party boss of President Yadav remains to be seen.

Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal has been frantically engaged in toppling the current coalition government headed by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. It is understandable what Mr. Khanal has been doing as his party CPN-UML is neither a democratic party nor a communist party. It has been the party of unscrupulous political leaders that could do anything to achieve their goal of grabbing power. In the name of building a consensus on electing a prime minister, Mr. Khanal held on to sitting on fences for six months during the prime ministerial election held in 2010 after Madhav Nepal was forced out of the office of prime minister. Ultimately, he built a coalition with the UCPN-Maoist and formed a new government but as a prime minister, Mr. Khanal did nothing during his term of office for six months.

Mr. Khanal also went to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and told him to fire the prime minister stating the prime minister had no rights to continue in the office, as he had declared the election to a new CA after the dissolution of the CA. In 2009, President Yadav as the head of state had once made a mistake in listening to Mr. Khanal that had led a group of leaders to the president and asked him to stop the then Prime minister Prachanda from firing the Chief of Army Staff. This time, the president had not made the similar mistake listening to such immature political leaders so far. However, Mr. Khanal had not lost the hope of finishing off the current prime minister and had been telling the president to fire the prime minister at every public function he attended and spoke.

Another madness Mr. Khanal had shown was asking President of NC Sushil Koirala to name a person to the office of prime minister immediately. However, Mr. Koirala was not as childish as Mr. Khanal to name a candidate for the office of prime minister but Mr. Koirala also got lost in the turbulence of undemocratic activities they had been engaged in so far. If Mr. Koirala was the president of really a democratic party he needed to lead all the political leaders and cadres to the democratic path that was the election to a new CA but Mr. Koirala had not done so proving himself a leader of the political party of no democratic principles.

The strangest thing happening was another leader of CPN-UML KP Oli that had lost the election to the office of the Chairman of CPN-UML to Jhalanath Khanal had correctly saying that the election to a new CA was the only way to coming out of the current political entanglement. He also had been correctly telling that revival of the dissolved CA was not possible following the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Thus, Mr. Oli clearly stood out for following the democratic norms and values while his colleagues freaked out and started off smashing the democratic principles. Mr. Oli had been a political clown in the past but this time he had shown that he was for following the democratic norms and values.

Even Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai that had been standing firmly for following the Interim Constitution of Nepal and the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal on holding an election to a new CA had started showing that his faith in the democratic principles had been flickering out. Dr. Bhattarai had publicly told that he would not be an obstacle to reviving the dissolved CA if all political parties agreed on it. How could the prime minister that had the responsibility to lead the country to the democratic path tell such most undemocratic means to revive the CA? He would be the first person to face the contempt of court if he became one of the responsible elected leaders to follow such an undemocratic path to give the life to the dead CA.

Another so-called political leader that had been poised to bring a political turbulence in Nepal was Mohan Vaidhya Kiran that had formed a new party with the old name ‘CPN-Maoist’ breaking away from the mother party ‘UCPN-Maoist.’ Along with his faithful lieutenants, Mr. Vaidhya went to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and told him about his new party and his uncompromising stand on firing the current government headed by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai: his one-time comrade-in-arms. Mr. Vaidhya was for bringing a political turbulence so that he could grab the power and introduce a dictatorial system in the name of proletariats. His cadres had been keeping the land seized from the landlords during the 10-year-long conflict with the state. He went to meet president of NC Sushil Koirala to build a joint strategy to force Dr. Bhattarai out of office. Whether Mr Koirala that had been so skeptical about the Maoists in general had accepted the offer made by Mr. Vaidhya or not remains to be seen. Mr. Vaidhya had been the second Khanal that he had been deadly against the democratic norms and values only to remove the prime minister from the office.

Leaders of a number of left and right political parties had been saying and doing whatever possible to make the political situation murky to fish out whatever possible from such a situation. Most of them are not for holding an election to a new CA, as their existence might be completely wiped out after the election.  However, another man stood out for an election to a new CA was Mr. Kamal Thapa: leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-Nepal) but with one condition of forming a neutral government headed by the incumbent or former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal for holding the election. He did not care whether it was a constitutional or not but he wanted that way. That was Kamal Thapa.

The only political parties that stood out for the election to a new CA were the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF: an alliance of Madheshi political parties. None of the political leaders of the parties belonging to the UDMF had said anything that went against the election to a new CA and did not demand the ending of the current government. Certainly, they were in the government. It was an advantage for them to be in the government while going to contest the election to a new CA. However, Chairman of Madheshi People’s Rights Forum-Nepal Upendra Yadav had been mad at Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai for not quitting the office and even called on President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav to fire Dr. Bhattarai from the office of prime minister. Mr. Upendra Yadav was once a tall Madheshi figure in the Nepalese politics and even managed to get his candidate for the vice-president elected but in the course of his political activities he had cut this size down to a tiny figure because of his irrational political stand in many political issues.

Speaking at the face-to-face with the media people in Kathmandu on Friday, July 6, 2012, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi said that the next government would not be formed under the leadership of any anti-federalist political party, as the ruling coalition partners: UCPN-Maoist and Madhesi Front would not accept a government headed by any anti-federalist party, and said, "If the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML want to lead the next government, they must transform themselves into federalist forces." Minister Tripathi reiterated that the Madhesi parties would not tolerate a constitution without federalism and federalism without identity; Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai would not step down until the political parties forged a packaged deal on the CA elections, contentious issues of the new constitution and formation of a new government; a political consensus has become even more important than before after May 27, so, a political consensus should be built following the five-point agreement signed off on May 2, 2012; the government would bring the full-fledged budget in time at any cost; "I think President Dr Ram Baran Yadav will not stop the government from bringing the complete budget," and warned of the country suffering huge loss if the opposition parties blocked the government to present a full budget in time, according to ‘The Rising Nepal, of July 7, 2012.

During the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gacchedar at Sheetal Niwas on Friday, July 6, 2012, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav told the government to bring the new budget following the provision made in the Interim Constitution; he would not cross the line of the limit set by the constitution and the government also should follow the constitution, Gacchedar quotes the president as saying, according to ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 7, 2012. "But I told him that the full budget will be essential to prevent the negative impacts on the economy" he said and informed the President that the government was taking initiatives for building a consensus on the budget; the President also said that he was consulting with legal experts about the budget, the President showed his concern for the political parties not being serious about resolving the political crisis.

On Thursday, July 5, 2012, speaking at an interaction event held by the Reporters Club in Kathmandu, Vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Dipendra Chhetri has said that the government is planning to announce the full budget of Rs 439 billion including Rs 10 billion for an election to a new CA through the presidential ordinance despite the opposition political parties opposing it; also speaking at the event, Former Governor of the Central Bank Himalayan Shumsher Rana emphasized the need for presenting a full budget and urged all the stakeholders not to drag the head of state to controversy over the issue of budget, writes nepalnews.com.

On Thursday, July 5, 2012, President of NC Sushil Koirala met with the head-of-state President Dr Ram Baran Yadav at Sheetal Niwas presidential office, and urged the head of the state to block the full budget that the government was trying to bring through the presidential ordinance; it was the day after the opposition parties submitted a memorandum to the president requesting him for rejecting the budget for the FY 2012 that the government trying to bring unconstitutionally; for the opposition parties, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had no rights to present the budget through the presidential ordinance, writes ‘The Himalayan Times’.

At the meeting with a delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce held at his office in Singha Durbar on Thursday, July 5, 2012, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Bijaya Kumar Gacchedar has said that efforts are made on presenting a full-fledged budget for the FY 2012 following a political consensus, and urged the members of the delegation to put continuous pressure on the senior leaders of the three major parties for a budget; the Chamber delegation apprised DPM Gacchedar of the consequences of not presenting a full-shaped budget including the spoiling of the atmosphere for foreign investments, according to Chamber President Suresh Kumar Basnet, writes ‘The Himalayan Times’.

On Wednesday, July 4, 2012, CPN-UML leader Madhav Nepal called on President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and requested the head of state for starting off the process for forming a new government, and informed the President about the decision made by the opposition parties on the need for Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to quit the office without further delay in forming a national unity government, and urged the President not to approve the budget for the FY 2012 to be presented by the government, as the opposition parties concluded that the caretaker government had no rights to present the budget through the presidential ordinance, writes nepalnews.com.

On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, speaking an interaction event held by the Reporters’ Club Nepal in Kathmandu, Finance Minister Barshaman Pun has said that the government has no alternative to presenting a full-fledged budget for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance; so, the political parties should build a consensus on presenting the budget through the presidential ordinance as it is a regular process of the government; he would not consider of presenting a one-third budget instead of a full-fledged as the opposition wanted; the government has been making efforts on presenting a full-fledged budget on time building a political consensus despite the opposition parties’ call for a partial budget; the political parties should not politicize the budget because it is the regular activity of the government to give continuity to the country’s economic development; concerning the political parties lobbying the President for not presenting the full-fledged budget; he expressed his confidence in the President not taking any unconstitutional step against the budget, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 4, 2012.

On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai held a meeting with the leaders of ethnic (janajati) and indigenous nationalities at his Baluwatar official residence and floated an idea of forming an alliance of pro-federalism forces to counter the anti-identity-based-federalism forces. Leaders participating in the meeting appreciated the initiative taken by the Prime Minister to form such an alliance; a front of indigenous nationalities, dalits, janajatis, Madhesis and women is necessary to fight against anti-federal forces, said Dr Om Gurung, an indigenous nationality leader after the meeting; Maoist Standing Committee Member Amik Serchan and CPN-UML Leader Ashok Rai are assigned to take initiative to form a joint front to fight for the identity-based federalism, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 4, 2012.

Leaders of three major political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC and CPN-UML, of the Madheshi alliance UDMF sat together at the Lazimpat residence of Chairman of UCPN-Maoist on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 to see if they could come out of the current political entanglement they have created. However, they could not come to any conclusion, as the leaders of NC and CPN-UML wanted the government to leave office before talking about any other businesses but the leaders of UCPN-Maoist and UDMF wanted to agree on promulgating a new constitution, holding an election to a new CA, and on the budget for the FY 2012 before talking about the government quitting the office, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 4, 2012.

On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, twenty-seven opposition parties including NC, CPN-UML and the newly formed CPN-Maoist headed by Mohan Vaidhya Kiran decided to request President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav: the head of state for not issuing the budget for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance stating it as unconstitutional, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 4, 2012. It is understandable other communist parties including CPN-Maoist of Mr. Vaidhya and CPN-UML of Mr. Khanal telling the budget through the presidential ordinance even in the absence of a parliament is unconstitutional, as they understand democracy only in the term of their ideology rather than the standard universally accepted democratic norms and values but it is not understandable that the democratic party such as NC riding the same bandwagon of the communists and saying the presidential ordinance for the budget for the FY 2012 is unconstitutional.

At the meeting held at the Baluwatar official residence of the prime minister on Monday, July 2, 2012, leaders of the UCPN-Maoist and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) made it clear that the Prime Minister would quit the office only if the political parties agreed on resolving the issues of the constitution drafting, the election to a new CA and the formation of a new government in a package, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 3, 2012.

On Monday, July 2, 2012, President of NC Sushil Koirala went to see President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav: the head of state, and discussed the current political crisis. They also talked about the formation of a consensus government to resolve the current political deadlock. NC President Koirala informed President Yadav that the NC would not accept the budget for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance if it were done without a political consensus. After the meeting with President Yadav, Mr. Koirala told reporters that the caretaker government had no rights to present the budget through the presidential ordinance without consulting with other political parties. Mr. Koirala said that President Yadav should take the steps to form a consensus government and build a political consensus on presenting the budget through the presidential ordinance; and warned President Yadav of his party taking the issue of the budget to streets if the government presented it without building a political consensus on it, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 3, 2012.

On Monday, July 2, 2012, in presence of Finance Minister Barshaman Pun, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda met with the delegation of the Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) at his Lazimpat residence, and assured the members of the delegation of Prachanda as the Chairman of the largest party taking initiatives to build a political consensus on presenting a full-fledged budget for the FY 2012. Talking to reporters after the meeting, President of FNCCI Suraj Vaidhya said that his delegation met with Prachanda as a part of their meetings with top leaders for the timely budget; and said that his delegation had already met with top leaders of NC and CPN-UML; none of them were found to be against the full-fledged budget but all of them stressed the need for building a political consensus on the budget, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 3, 2012.

On Sunday, July 1, 2012, Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai invited President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Pashupati Sumsher Rana and president of RPP-Nepal Kamal Thapa at his Baluwatar official residence to hold discussion about the current political situation as the part of his continuing consultations with leaders of various political parties to build a political consensus, ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 2, 2012 writes. After the meeting with the prime minister, Mr. Rana said that he suggested the Prime Minister to work on forming a national consensus government for a timely political outlet; this government could not hold an election to a new CA, and could not make decisions on other issues without building an all-party consensus; so suggested Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai to resolve the contentious issues concerning the new constitution through a referendum on these issues. Mr. Thapa told the Prime Minister that building a political consensus was next to impossible as it could not happen during the past four years; so, no alternative to holding a fresh election to a new CA was available; however, he also suggested the prime minister to give the way to form a government headed by a neutral person such as former or incumbent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal to hold an election to a new CA.

On Sunday, July 1, 2012, talking to the delegation of the Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) at his Dallu residence, Chairman of CPN-UML and former Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal said that Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai should give up his greed for power and step down immediately so that a new consensus government could be formed; the Prime Minister had been obstructing the process of forming a national unity government; the current constitutional and political crisis would continue until the Prime Minister quit the office, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 2, 2012. During the meeting, the members of the delegation of FNCCI urged Chairman Khanal to play a positive role in the government building a political consensus on presenting the full-fledged budget for the FY 2012. Talking to reporters after the meeting with Mr. Khanal, Chairman of FNCCI Suraj Vaidhya said that timely budget was essential for economic development and prosperity of the country so, the political parties should honestly build a consensus on the new budget.

On Sunday evening, July 1, 2012, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal urged President NC Sushil Koirala to immediately name a candidate for the new Prime Minister when Mr. Koirala visited Mr. Khanal at his Dallu residence for the political consultations to form a next government under the leadership of the NC following the five-point deal reached among the political parties on May 2, 2012, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 2, 2012.

On Sunday, July 1, 2012, NC and CPN-UML former lawmakers held a joint meeting and demanded to build a political consensus on the reinstatement of the dissolved CA for a short period to end the current constitutional crisis and promulgate a new constitution; after the meeting, NC leader and former lawmaker Shobhakar Parajuli said that the meeting decided that the reinstatement of the CA was the only legal and constitutional way to resolve the current political deadlock; however, speaking at another event, CPN-UML leader KP Oli ruled out the possibility of the reinstatement of the dissolved CA, writes ‘The Rising Nepal’ of July 2, 2012.

The opposition group lead by the NC and CPN-UML leaders have been becoming dictatorial not agreeing on going to the election to a new CA. Recently, the group has been pushing President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav very hard to fire the current prime minister and form a new government, if not, then not to accept the budget for the FY 2012 through the presidential ordinance. All these things that the opposition group wants the head of state to do go against the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. If the president as the head of state does anyone of the things the opposition group wants him to do then the president would be the dictatorial and the law and order would be in the doldrums. That is what exactly the Vaidhya’s new party called CPN-Maoist wants to happen. That is why the Vaidhya group also finds with the opposition group led by the NC and CPN-UML something common. So, the Vaidhya simply has joined the opposition group to tear down the current government to lead the country to lawlessness and then capture the state power. Is that the opposition group’s desire?

July 8, 2012.